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Erik Spoelstra still won’t reveal starting lineup

Even as the Heat were winning 27 straight games with Udonis Haslem as a starter, there were some underlying statistics that suggested Erik Spoelstra could still make a switch down the road — a switch that, considering the way players were talking after shootaround, now seems quite possible.

While he was using Battier with Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh only occasionally — and in some games not at all — it was crushing opponents at a remarkable clip.

On March 15 in Milwaukee, I mentioned some of the numbers to Spoelstra, as if he didn’t know them.

“Good players, good veteran group,” Spoelstra said that day, with a sly smile. “Sometimes certain groups have great chemistry together. That’s the way it is last year, and that’s been a good group this year.”

When he sets a starting lineup, does he think about how it impacts the rotation?

“Yup,” Spoelstra said. “Yeah. We pretty much have a penciled-in rotation and that evened things out. We tweaked in two different areas, small areas, and that helped level things out. That’s not the reason for the streak, it just helps with consistency. Some guys now know when they’re getting minutes, when they’re not. Guys who aren’t playing have to stay ready, it isn’t easy. But at least they know. And from there, every other game, something will happen and you’ve got to adjust. Foul trouble, someone goes to the locker room, and then you have to adjust, then you’ve got to go to the next layer.”

At the time, the rotation was Haslem, Bosh, Wade, James and Chalmers as starters, with Battier, Ray Allen, Chris Andersen and Norris Cole off the bench.

As well as it was going, why wasn’t he working Battier in with that group a bit more?

“I get it a lot of time,” Spoelstra said. “And it’s always good when it’s fresh. That’s part of it. It works well at any point, but it also works as a game-changer.”

Somewhat surprisingly, it was one of the Heat’s better rebounding groups.

“Shane is the best block-out guy in the league, so that allows everyone else to get the rebound,” Spoelstra said.

We may get a chance to see how it works as a game-changer tonight.

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